I thoroughly enjoyed Frances Brody's Death at the Seaside so I am delighted to take part in the celebrations for her novel, Death in the Stars. It is the ninth in the Kate Shackleton mystery series.
Yorkshire, 1927. Eclipse fever grips the nation, and when
beloved theatre star Selina Fellini approaches trusted sleuth Kate Shackleton
to accompany her to a viewing party at Giggleswick School Chapel, Kate suspects
an ulterior motive.
During the eclipse, Selina's friend and co-star Billy
Moffatt disappears and is later found dead in the chapel grounds. Kate can't
help but dig deeper and soon learns that two other members of the theatre
troupe died in similarly mysterious circumstances in the past year. With the
help of Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden, Kate sets about investigating the deaths -
and whether there is a murderer in the company.
When Selina's elusive husband Jarrod, injured in the war and
subject to violent mood swings, comes back on the scene, Kate begins to imagine
something far deadlier at play, and wonders just who will be next to pay the
ultimate price for fame . . .
My Thoughts
It was good to meet up with Kate Shackleton, Jim Sykes and Mrs Sugden for what turned out to be an intriguing crime mystery. Set in 1927, it includes the eclipse of that year and started off at Giggleswick in Yorkshire which hosted a viewing of the phenomenon. I am particularly impressed with the pacing and plotting of the story as the momentum never flags as the clues begin to unfold. There are several red herrings and possible suspects as to who could be the murderer and the ending is a great finale to the book.
The suspects are all larger than life characters and the theatrical flavour adds spice to the proceedings. I find that the 1920's lends itself to this genre of crime mystery and Frances Brody captures the feel of the times. It is obvious that she has thoroughly researched all the events which are mentioned and the settings. I was particularly fascinated to read about this in her acknowledgements section and to find out that there have long been rumours of tunnels beneath Leeds. As for the recipe for the Eclipse Cocktail- very tempting!
In short: great crime mystery writing with lots of period detail.
About the Author
Frances Brody
is the author of the Kate Shackleton mysteries, as well as many stories
and plays for BBC Radio, scripts for television and four sagas, one of
which won the HarperCollins Elizabeth Elgin Award.
Her stage plays have been toured by several theatre companies and
produced at Manchester Library Theatre, the Gate and Nottingham
Playhouse, and Jehad was nominated for a Time Out Award.
You can connect with the author at her website here or on Twitter here.
Thanks to the publishers, Piatkus Books, for a copy of the book and a place on the Blog Tour.
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